King Lear: First-look photo of Anthony Hopkins and Florence Pugh

A FIRST-look image has been released from the BBC’s King Lear, starring Anthony Hopkins and Florence Pugh.

BAFTA® and Olivier® Award-winning director Richard Eyre’s adaptation of King Lear will premiere on BBC2 this Spring.

Set in the fictional present, King Lear sees Academy® Award winner Hopkins (The Dresser, Nixon, Silence of the Lambs) as the eponymous ruler, presiding over a totalitarian military dictatorship in England.

Academy® Award and BAFTA® Award winner Emma Thompson (The Children Act, The Remains of the Day, Sense and Sensibility) stars as his oldest daughter Goneril.

Academy® Award and BAFTA® Award winner Jim Broadbent (Iris, Game of Thrones) is the Earl of Gloucester, with BAFTA® Award winner Andrew Scott (Sherlock, The Hollow Crown) as his loyal son Edgar and John Macmillan (Hanna, Chewing Gum) as his illegitimate son, Edmund.

King Lear has been commissioned by Charlotte Moore at the BBC, and is produced by Playground (Wolf Hall, Howards End, Little Women) and Sonia Friedman Productions (The Dresser) in association with Lemaise Pictures Limited for BBC Two. The drama is a co-production with Amazon Studios.